An electrostatic dust catcher is known from US 2004/0163667 A1. The previously known dust catcher is designed as a floor cleaning device and has a grid-shaped mat, wherein the two electrodes are components of the mat. The mat can be covered, for example, by a cleaning cloth. The voltage source is a battery, which is located, for example, in the manual handle, wherein the starting voltage is converted into a high voltage. The area between the electrodes is electrically charged, wherein the dust to be taken up has an opposite polarity, with reference to the electrodes, and in this way, is attracted. Also disclosed is a charging station for the dust catcher, if the voltage source comprises a storage battery, instead of a battery. Furthermore, the previously known dust catcher can have motion detectors.
Due to the arrangement of the two electrodes in the grid-shaped mat, the previously known dust catcher has the disadvantage that the highest field line density of the electrical field, and thus, the greatest polarization effect, is limited to the space between the two electrodes. As a result of the flat arrangement of the two electrodes, no significant force appears on particles outside the electrodes. The particles must first arrive here in the space between the electrodes, so as to then polarize to a sufficient extent and then be attracted by an electrode.
Such electrode configurations and geometries are not able to attract dust particles over a distance of several millimeters or even centimeters by means of electrostatic forces. A covering of the electrodes, with a textile even, completely prevents the possibility for the particles to arrive in the area of the greatest electrical field strength between the electrodes and further reduces the performance capacity of the previously known device.